‘Still more traitors, still more treason…" It is 1792 and France has been at war since April; it is not going well. In Paris, the Tuileries Palace has been stormed, and the royal family imprisoned. Meanwhile, tensions are rising between the main political factions of the Revolution, the Girondins and the Montagnard, led by the icy Maximilien Robespierre. The streets of Paris teem with armed young men - the Federes and the Sans-Culottes - responsible for the brutal slaughtering of the Swiss Guard earlier that year. They have arrested and imprisoned thousands of people. It is into this progressively febrile atmosphere of paranoia and fear that terrible news arrives: the Prussians, hungry for vengeance, have taken the fortress of Verdin. Rumours swirl of treason and betrayal from deep within Paris itself, and a new, chilling idea is raised to wash the city of counter revolutionaries once and for all: cleanse the prisons. So it is that on the 2nd of September, a group of Prisoners being escorted from one prison to another is stopped, and methodically hacked to death. The survivors face an impromptu tribunal before receiving the same treatment. Over the next few days, all prisoners across Paris are likewise judged, and many similarly damned and mutilated. A tide of bloodshed is rising, which will soon flood the streets of Paris, taking thousands of lives with it. Who will survive the massacre? Join Dominic and Tom for the next series of the French Revolution, as they pick up this epic story - one of the most resounding and complex historical events of all time - with arguably the most horrific episode of the whole revolution: the September massacres… EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The homeland will be saved. Everything is in motion. Everyone burns to fight. While one part of the people goes to the frontiers, a second digs our defenses, and a third, armed with pikes, will defend our cities and towns. We ask that whoever refuses to serve or to give up his weapons shall be punished with death.
The toxin that will ring out will not be a signal of alarm, but a call to charge against the enemies of the homeland. To vanquish them, gentlemen, we need to dare, to dare, and to dare again. And then, France will be saved.
So that Dominic was not Winston Churchill, although many people from the excellence of the impression may think it was. It was actually a Frenchman, Georges Danton. Minister of Justice in 1792, the Dominic Sandbrook to my Robespierre. Oh, that's kind. Thanks, Tom. And he's addressing the Assembly on the 2nd of September, 1792.
And people will be able to realise from this that we are back with the French Revolution. We are indeed, Tom. Our ongoing series, aren't we? And can I just say why I chose to do it in a Churchillian tone? Do. Yeah, please. Because I think there is a Churchillian quality to that, isn't it? That is a very, very famous speech.
It's all about defence of the fatherland, defence of the nation, determination to fight on. And there is a Churchillian quality to it. And I thought it subtly evoked a sense for British listeners of perhaps the resonance it has in France.
Yeah, it does have a huge resonance in France. So those words in French, il nous faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace. We need daring, more daring, always daring, to dare, to dare, to dare again, or however you translate it. They're very famous. Lots of French school children will know those words.
And that, I think, gives you a sense of the position that we're in as we begin season three of the French Revolution. This episode is very, very gory. So listeners should be warned. It is absolutely revolting, particularly if you have children, be warned.
Because in today's episode, we will be turning to, I would say, perhaps the most horrific episode of the whole revolution, the September massacres. So to give people a sense... This is a moment when mobs are going to storm, basically burst into the prisons. Or are they mobs?
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